Finding Claire

Chapter 21

I walked in a few seconds late and I blushed as I felt all eyes on me. The five pairs of eyes that met mine looked confused as I stood there, waiting for Mr. Zee to say something. Mr. Zee however was jumping for joy and pulling out papers under his stack.

"Class, this is Claire. She will be joining us for the rest of the semester."

"Does she even know how to play?" a girl sneered from her seat. I glared at her and then groaned mentally when I recognized her. Great. One of Gabbys trolls. Who knew they liked to play piano. "This is a level four class. I have never seen her touch a piano before."

I was about to open my mouth to say something but Mr. Zee beat me to it. "She is easily capable of doing what you can. I just hope she doesn't get bored."

"Why? Because she will have to catch up with me?" Bitch.

"No. You all have to catch up with her."

Everyone gasped and I looked away. "No. There's no way she's ahead of us. I want to hear her play."

"Yeah!" everyone else agreed and I stared at them in shock. I felt Mr. Zees' stare and I turned to face him as I bit my lip.

He raised his eyebrow at me and I shrugged before dropping my stuff right where I was standing and walked towards the main piano. He stepped away as I sat on the bench and practiced a few scales with ease before stopping.

"I don't know what to play."

"Ha," the girl huffed and I glared at her.

"Why don't you play the last piece you played when I was here," Mr. Zee suggested and I shrugged. Sure. Why not?

I took a few seconds to get ready and then I let my fingers fly without looking down at my hands. I smirked when I saw all jaws drop and from the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Zee with the same small smile as he stared at his students.

When I finished the piece, I stood up, walked to my stuff and then took the seat furthest away from everyone.

"Well then. Now that she has played, everyone get the piece I instructed you to learn. You will have one more week to practice it and then you will play for a grade."

As everyone moved with a stiff pace, he walked over to me, looking nervous as his hands crumpled the papers he was holding. "You have no idea how excited I am that you're here."

"I can kind of tell," I laughed and his face reddened.

"Well here you go. Since you are ahead of everyone, I'll give you a week as well. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Nope." He seemed surprised by my answer and I shrugged. "I can practice at home, right?"

"Right," he agreed and walked away. I took a glance at the sheets, sighed and then turned on the keyboard in front of me.

"Oh boy," I mumbled under my breath.

*

*

"They made me play!" was the first thing I exploded to Nathan as soon as I walked out hours later. When the bell rang, I stayed in my seat and just continued playing like nothing happened. As students began to arrive, they stared at me and I sighed. Here we go again. Of course, not one person in the group of six believed that I could play so I ended up playing another piece. But instead of finishing it, I just cut it in half and walked away while Mr. Zee continued on like nothing happened. Anyways, Nathan looked at me in shock and I nodded. "One of Gabbys followers is in 5th and she didn't believe I was capable of playing. So they made me play! The same thing happened in 6th!"

"Isn't that good though? Now they know you're better then them."

"Well.... yeah. But come on! Why would I be there in the first place if I didn't know how to play. I'm just over it and I need cake or something. I need to eat my sorrows away."

I saw him pause and his head snapped towards me. I raised an eyebrow and he smiled. "I know the perfect place. Do you want me to drive or do you want to follow me?"

"I'll follow. That way you don't have to drive back."

It was kind of hard trying to catch up to Nathan as he drove wildly down the road. How I had never noticed this, I had no clue, but now I knew that the next time I got in a car with him, I would be scared.

"Do you know you drive like a maniac?" I laughed as soon as he parked in front of a bakery. Sally's Bakery I read quickly before turning back to a red face Nathan.

"Yeah, sort of. Sorry." I just laughed and began to walk, groaning in delight when the smell of bread, sweets and chocolate hit my nose. The bell chimed as we opened and closed the door and the short skinny lady behind the counter greeted us with a big smile.

After ordering our stuff, we found an empty booth and sat opposite each other, spreading everything out. "Why did we buy so much?"

"So you can try everything. I found this place by accident one day and I have been coming here when I want sweets."

"Sureeeee," I laughed and he glared at me. I picked a small, bite size cookie that had a purple star on top and popped it in my mouth. The flavors immediately hit my senses and I couldn't hold back the moan that threatened to escaped.

"Told you," he laughed at me and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Shut up."

We talked, laughed and even had a mini food fight with the leftover crumbs as the bakery slowly calmed down. I didn't realize the time had passed until I looked down at my phone and saw the time.

"It is 9 already! Are you serious!" I yelled and stood up quickly.

"Dang. Time flew by," he replied calmly and I sighed.

"I have to go. My parents are probably freaking out. I'm surprised they haven't called me or better yet called the cops to come look for me." I laughed. They were known to do that.....

"Yeah. My phone has been buzzing non stop for the past couple of hours. I didn't say anything because I was having a great time."

I felt bad, but happy at the same time when he said that. He walked me to my car and even held the door open like a gentleman. "Drive safe. I'll see you tomorrow in school."

I nodded as I strapped my seat belt in and he closed the door. As I drove away, I saw him staring at me from the exact same spot he was in and I couldn't help but to blush.

Why did this felt like a date?